Once upon a time
Some distilleries, the Balvenie in particular, have realised there's money to be made by releasing whisky straight from the barrel.
In general, the whisky that one generally buys is blended from many barrels, in which the whisky has matured. A master distiller will select whisky from several barrels to blend together in order to achieve the results he's looking for - in most cases this will be continuation of a particular taste.
The logic goes that if you buy a Genfacker 10 and then go back to buy another bottle, you want the same thing again - even if it comes from a different batch.
Thus, the master distiller at the Glenfacker Distillery will sample from many barrels and carefully select to ensure that the mix produces something as close as possibly to the previous batch.
The age statement, incidentally, should represent the minimum age of the components, so a 10 year old may well contain some spirit that had aged for 12, 14, 15 or however many years, if that was required to get the mix right.
There are a couple of distilleries that do things differently, in particular the Bruichladdich, who make more special editions than you could conceivably drink. (A Bruichladdich bottling generally comprises about 2,000 to 8,000 bottles, so whilst they are 'limited', they do generally hand around for a while).
Balvenie have recently changed their 'Signature' onto a similar system (correct me if I'm wrong!), currently at the third incarnations. It's a canny technique, because it encourages buying of the new batch 'to see what it's like' as well as removing the need to homogenise each batch to make it match the previous one. As it also encourages a bit more originality, it gets my vote.
At the extreme end of the scale is the Single Barrel. In simple terms, it does exactly what it says on the bottle: it's from a single barrel.
However, it's not quite as simple as merely falling over a barrel and decanting it into bottles: the barrel has to be selected because the contents are suitable to be bottled without blending, presumably both a blessing and a curse.
In the case of the Balvenie Single Barrel, each bottle is one of no more than 350 siblings and it's nigh-on impossible to get hold of the same thing again.
At this point, it's worth my while noting that perhaps the very best whisky I have ever tasted was a Balvenie Single Barrel: I've had three or four since and they've been nowhere near as good. Not to say there's anything wrong with them, but that the one bottle was perfection itself.
So, what's the attraction?
Well, firstly there's the 'pot luck' aspect of not knowing what you'll get. But more importantly, what you're buying is a lot more like whisky 'should be', shorn of the blending that's required for the mass market.
Then, perhaps, is that slightly odd feeling that whatever you do, you almost certainly won't get another bottle exactly the same, ever again.
And so, neatly onto bottle 86 from cask 2809 of the Balvenie Single Barrel. A 15 year old, conceived on 6th March 1995 and born on 2nd April 2010.
I may be a tad critical of the nose here, for a couple of reasons: firstly I'm accustomed to smokey Islay natives; and secondly, my one nose isn't functioning perfectly at the moment.
Spicy apple, Mrs.Vanoord reckons; and I'll agree with that. There's an almost floral thing going on, although there's an undertone of something ester-y which might yet be, well, a bit too close to being a solvent than it should be. Not to say it's unpleasant, but just that it's perhaps lacking assertiveness.
The taste isn't bad at all, albeit there's a slight tartness, perhaps the result of a certain spicyness rather than dryness. Apple again, a bit more spice and even a tiny hint of smoke.
The finish? Well, it's 47.8%, so what do you expect? The word 'crescendo' springs to mind and certainly it's a finish that lingers and lingers on the palate. Warming, in a way that some Islay bottlings wouldn't be ashamed of.
Overall - and despite this being very pleasant - I'm left with a slight feeling of what it's not rather than what it is. Yes, there's a lot of individuality and even a bit of feistyness, but... but... there's just something that's missing from this one. Perhaps it's the sweetness that the Balvenie often has, perhaps it's the thunder that a more malted whisky brings you.
Perhaps it falls between two stools; and because of that, it's not one to go back to. Like a fling in a far-off port, this Balvenie is a pleasurable experience, but not one that's going to stick in the mind in the way that others have. Yet that doesn't mean there's no reason to go back: just as the girls in every port are very different, so the Balvenie Single Barrels are individual. It's a journey well worth continuing.
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